Many providers of mobile phone service offer a call-forwarding service to their customers. These call-forwarding services may be activated by calling an automated activation service from the mobile phone and providing the required information. Once activated, the call-forwarding service operates independently of the mobile phone. Phone calls are forwarded to the designated number utilizing only network components and infrastructure provided by the mobile phone service company. The call-forwarding service continues to operate until it is deactivated. The service may be deactivated by calling a designated number from the mobile phone.
A drawback of currently offered call forwarding services is that they require the user to have possession of the mobile phone to use the automated activation service, which activates and deactivates call forwarding. A user of a mobile phone may want to activate a call forwarding service when they do not have possession of the phone. For example, if a user inadvertently leaves a mobile phone at home they may want to forward the calls to a work number, but would be unable to activate the service through the automated activation service without the mobile phone. Additionally, the current services only forward phone calls and do not forward other communication types such as instant messages.